Analyzing the sharing economy of airbnb from social exchange perspective

Abstract

Sharing economy is showing massive growth. Despite its growth, there were lack of structured research to adequately cover the consequent propensity to share commercial goods based the comparison with existing traditional services. In this context, the purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the competitive benefits and driving factors of commercial sharing services to understand why people participate in the sharing economy. The research employs the social exchange theory to examine consumers’ participation intention in sharing rather than owning commercial goods. As one of the influential theories to explain social interaction in information systems, the theory flexibly reflects the sharing economy and its exclusive property of the sharing transactions. The study emphasizes service platform as a trusted third party and its influence on reducing the perceived risk of the sharing economy. On top of that, relative advantage is proposed as another key influencing factor in consumers’ participation intention. To suggest driving factors of commercial sharing services, the research model includes the key antecedents to trust and relative advantages of the sharing economy services as well. The research model was tested with the Airbnb users’ data. The survey obtained 206 respondents. Partial least square (PLS) was used for measurement validation and testing the structural model. As a result, recognizing the service platforms as a trusted third party, trust toward the platforms showed significant influence on reducing perceived risk and raising people’s propensity to share. The newly conceptualized antecedent of the sharing intention, relative advantage, showed even greater influence on consumer’s intention to participate in the sharing economy. The influence remained significance even when economic antecedent was removed from the model. The results implicate that consumers prioritize exclusive properties of the sharing economy, which traditional services cannot serve, and those are not limited to the economic benefit only. On top of these practical implications, this study successfully captures the characteristics of commercial sharing services―relational value. Relevant to the relational value in the sharing economy, the theoretical contribution of this research validates the value of Social Exchange Theory in explaining consumer’s propensity to share over traditional transaction that transits ownership of commercial goods. Thus, the results contribute to both academic researchers and practitioners to understand the sharing economy.